HASBRO'S TRIBES (1990) UNPRODUCED ACTION FIGURE DESIGN ARCHIVES LOT.
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Winning Bid:
$285.56
(Includes 18% Buyer's Premium)
Bidding Ended:
Wednesday, March 20, 2024 9:00:00 PM (20 Minute Clock Begins At Wednesday, March 20, 2024 9:00:00 PM)
Item Description
During the 1980s, a boom of action figure lines exploded onto the market, often bolstered by an accompanying cartoon. Out of this animated assortment a few strong market dominators arose; He-Man and the Masters of the Universe being one of the strongest. Naturally other toy companies racked their collective brains trying to unseat Mattel's golden child, resulting in a vast array of interesting toys that performed to various degrees. One such attempt came during the late 1980s from Hasbro (maker of G.I. Joe and Transformers), an attempt to throw their hat into the realm of fantasy - Tribes.
The brainchild of toy inventors Jose Longoria and Ann Jasperson and Adam Kislevitz (of Kiscom design representatives), Tribes featured a mask-centric theme - with various characters either belonging to the Thunderbear, Firehawk, Wild Cat or the Evil Screaming Skull Tribes. It could be argued that with the primeval fantasy feel of the toyline in addition to the bulging muscles of the designs, Masters of the Universe had more than a passing influence. But by the time the Tribes brand was purchased by Hasbro and put into the early stages of design and development, He-Man's empire was in decline. The toy market had moved onto newer ideas and Hasbro's Tribes display at the 1990 Toy Fair failed to garner the attention needed to move on.
However, the Tribes line had gone as far as tooling prototype figures, animal mounts and an impressive tower playset, all of which were rediscovered in 2016 when Kiscom (now The Obb) sold its New Jersey office space and was in the process of clearing out storage. We are proud to offer these prototypes to the collecting world, offering a glimpse into what might have been.
Extensive lot of materials pertaining to the development and design of Hasbro's unproduced Tribes toyline. Lot includes seven 3x6"sticker labels featuring the three different "Tribes" logo designs for action figure cards (two different "Only The Strong Survive" designs and Evil Tribe). Rest of lot consists of color copies of promotional art by noted Masters of the Universe illustrator William George (including both masked and unmasked versions), Hasbro internal stats featuring diagrams of the figures themselves along w/masks and weapons/accessories as well as "Tribes Color Data" sheets noting the paint applications each figure was to receive. Of note, some characters featured different names than seen on the finalized designs. Skull Master became Bone Chiller, Con-Dor became Nightwing, Mun-Grrr became Dark Hunter whereas the Leopard and Leopard Driver became the Raging Cougar and Cougar Driver. Lot includes packets pertaining to the design of the Tribes "Driver" figures and their animal mounts, showing detailed depictions of Drivers' faces as well as some having notes pertaining to design changes; one notable being "Make Nose Less Ethnic Than Shown Here" for Gator Driver. Back of one Gator Driver sheet has pencil sketch of profile outline of Crushing Grizzly figure. A few stats featured detailed designs for figures' weapons and armor. A number of sheets bear the name of Hasbro's lead designer Michael Underhill and many have "Received Sculpture Department" inkstamps on backs. As such, a few have scattered staining from clay used during sculpting on the prototypes. Sheets show scattered handling wear and are VG to Exc. overall. Interesting archive related to this iconic unproduced toyline.
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